Namiko Kitaura was born in Tokyo in 1977. After graduating from University of the Arts London, she attended FABRICA (the Benetton communication research centre) as an artist in residence.
She produces distinctive images with a strong, personal voice with use of a unique Japanese view towards nature and the relationship between life and nature. The implied Romanticism within her works is both abstract and absolute. Through anonymous subjects such as plants, landscapes, human skin, the images contemplate each other sensually, with a sense of graceful motion suspended in a non-temporal framework. With her unique techniques, Namiko aims to visualize the almost invisible aspects of the human condition that lie below the physical, and their juxtaposition in a symbolic and metaphorical way: passion in depression, comfort in sadness, tranquility in chaos and beauty in ugliness.
Her main theme has been related to people's DND level memories, the transience of life, and beauty of this transience.